


The Sweetest Dream is Waking Next to You

by Resmiranda



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: First time waking up together, Fluff, Light Smut, M/M, Mass Effect 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 00:08:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11702700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resmiranda/pseuds/Resmiranda
Summary: Shepard has had a lot of firsts.Waking next to Kaidan for the first time is one of his favorites.





	The Sweetest Dream is Waking Next to You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnnaRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaRaven/gifts), [Mareel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mareel/gifts).



> Thanks to [Nikooki](http://nikooki.tumblr.com/) and [potionsmaster](http://archiveofourown.org/users/potionsmaster/pseuds/potionsmaster) for the beta/titling assistance!

Shepard couldn’t sleep.

There was nothing new about that. John hadn’t had a good night’s rest since he touched the beacon on Eden Prime. What was new was the _reason_ he wasn’t sleeping.

He let his gaze sweep unapologetically over the form of the man lying in his bed. Tan skin stretched over high cheekbones. Dark eyelashes with just a hint of curl. Full lips slightly parted in sleep.

Something like an ache took form in Shepard’s chest. Kaidan didn’t know how long he’d been wanting to kiss him. Didn’t know how long he’d suppressed his interest in the other man. It surprised the hell out of him when Kaidan invited him out to dinner and admitted his feelings in that roundabout way of his. That was two days ago and he was still reeling from it. Between cleaning up the mess on Tuchanka, filing reports, and checking in with the crew, they hadn’t had time for more than a couple brief conversations and one awkward hug.

Shepard was still kicking himself over that one.

It wasn’t that it was unwelcome, or that he was uncomfortable with Kaidan. He’d fantasized about that and more over the years, but having it be reality was another matter entirely. It had been a long time since he’d been in the arms of another person. His last shore leave before joining the Normandy, if his memory could be trusted.

And now he had a perfectly willing partner he cared a great deal for warming his bed. The ache in his chest moved lower, which was his cue to extract himself from the bed as stealthily as he could, take a piss and wash his face. He’d only slept fitfully for a couple hours, but he definitely wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep in his current state. He was strung tight and fit to snap, and there was no way he was jumping Kaidan without any sort of preamble. They’d yet to talk boundaries, and for all he knew Kaidan was the type who’d put you in a chokehold first and ask questions later.

John wasn’t even sure Kaidan would remember coming to his cabin. He’d taken a serious beating from a brute the day before and Shepard insisted he sleep off the pain meds in a more comfortable bed than what the med bay had to offer. He was pretty drugged when Shepard escorted him up—faintly glowing and slurring about how he hated how much Chakwas always doped him with. He’d rather take the pain than be “so pissed he couldn’t see straight.”

Kaidan may not have enjoyed it, but seeing the older man unfiltered was pretty damn endearing. He especially liked how direct he became. Though his invitation of, “You should get undressed and join me” before falling asleep hadn’t helped quiet his racing mind.

Shepard splashed his face one more time for good measure before toweling off, already contemplating pulling up his template for injury reports so he could document the bullet that grazed his shoulder yesterday. Already healed and scarred—no complications—but the damn brass was so anal he was surprised they weren’t required to report sparring contusions.

“Shepard?”

John stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading to his terminal and turned back toward the bed, where a very groggy looking soldier was trying to grasp his bearings. He blinking at Shepard several times in succession, like he was trying to bring him into focus, then looked down at the sheets his hands were running over in something like wonder.

Shepard waited.

“Did we fuck?” he asked point blank. Shepard raised his eyebrows. Looked like the drugs weren’t totally out of his system yet. Not surprising, since Shepard knew for a fact that Chakwas had some concoction special-made for biotics, having been subjected to it more than a few times himself.

Kaidan looked down at himself again. “Wait, why am I still dressed?” His eyebrows cinched together in a confused expression John couldn’t help but think of as cute. “Actually, how did I get here? I can’t remember… Wait, wasn’t I in the med bay?”

John sat on the end of the bed by Kaidan’s feet. He had one hand stretched out to place on Kaidan’s ankle before he second-guessed himself and let it drop to the bed beside his legs.

“You were. A brute snuck up on us on Tuchanka. Scared the hell out of me seeing you go down like that. James took care of it while I pumped you full of medi-gel. Got through the rest of the mission fine, but after you got down to Chakwas you just about passed out when she checked your ribs. She gave you the good stuff and patched you back up with some nanites. How are you feeling?”

A silence fell between them, Kaidan’s eyes leisurely mapping John’s face. Shepard was beginning to wonder if he’d processed anything he’d just said when Kaidan replied. “Like I’m dreaming. Is this a dream?”

Kaidan’s features scrunched, but his eyes were pleading. Shepard couldn’t help but chuckle. Kaidan liked to hide behind the stiff formality of military protocol, but underneath was a man who was tender-hearted and just a little bit awkward, who craved affection just as much as the next person.

Shepard got up and walked around to the side of the bed, plunking himself down and propping himself up with one arm next to the major’s head. He grasped Kaidan’s right hand and guided it to his face, cupping it there for a long couple of seconds before letting go. Kaidan’s thumb stroked down the side of his jaw, catching on the stubble he hadn’t bothered to shave. “Does it feel like a dream?”

Kaidan trailed his thumb across John’s lips, his own separating on a soft inhale.

“No,” he whispered.

He allowed Kaidan’s wandering thumb to part the seam of his lips, and John sucked gently on the tip of it, tongue tasting the salty tang of his skin. Kaidan brought his other hand up, curving behind Shepard’s ear and along his scalp, tugging him closer, stopping just a breath away.

“Are you lucid enough for this, Major?”

Kaidan’s fingers swept down his face till he was holding John by the chin, whiskey eyes flickering back and forth between his eyes and his lips. “Yeah,” he breathed. “I’m feeling pretty awake now.” The smoky rasp in his voice went straight to John’s core, but still, he held back. Kaidan’s hold on John’s chin strengthened, tilting it down as he angled his own up. A deep exhale had their lips brushing, but they continued to hold back, the tension sweet and powerful and so tempting that it had Shepard contracting every muscle in an effort to restrain himself.

Kaidan’s lips brushed his again, then pressed, a shared breath, and somehow Shepard was on his back, Kaidan’s full weight bearing down on him, and a very plush set of lips crushing into his, the burn of stubble and the hard scrape of teeth against sensitive skin. All the blood in his head seemed to relocate at once and sent him spinning, or maybe that was from him rolling Kaidan over and taking his turn at pinning him down, fingers teasing under the hem of a shirt and startling a throaty gasp out of the man under him. He pressed down more firmly, every centimeter touching, until he registered how hard Kaidan was and pulled back with a gasp.

Blown pupils looked up at him in some mix of heady shock and heat. Shepard sat back on Kaidan’s thighs and tried to herd his spinning thoughts.

“Wow,” Kaidan panted.

“Yeah,” John agreed. “Are you—”

“I’m good. Yeah. I wouldn’t lie to you, Shepard. Not about anything, but especially something like this. Fit for duty.” One corner of his mouth curled upwards. His eyes danced.

Shepard kissed him right where his mouth dimpled, and was immediately dragged into another heated kiss—this one more of a smolder than a blaze. Long, languid strokes of tongue and questing hands. Lengthy pauses every time a new sensitive spot was discovered. Kaidan’s chest heaved, body taut, pressing up into Shepard and lightly grinding himself against Shepard’s hip. John bore down and groaned into Kaidan’s mouth, sucking on his tongue and savoring the warmth and smell of the man who had quietly captivated him for so long.

When they finally broke, John stayed close, noses lightly brushing and eyes closed.

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” Kaidan exhaled. “It feels surreal.”

John hummed deep in his throat. “Me, too.”

Kaidan nudged John back a hair and used the space to sit up a bit. “Really?”

Shepard brushed the back one hand along the curve of Kaidan’s face. “Yeah.”

“I… never would have guessed. I mean,” Kaidan tried to sit up a little more, so John rolled to the side of him, contenting himself with the twining of their fingers, “when I invited you out to dinner, I was pretty sure I was going to get shot down.” John’s eyebrows raised. If only he knew… “But I knew if I didn’t tell you how I felt I was going to regret it. And if the world is really ending…” He leveled a tender look into John’s eyes. “I don’t want to have any regrets.”

Shepard scooted closer, pillowing his head on Kaidan’s shoulder and shutting his eyes, listening to his heartbeat.

“You made an impression on me from the very beginning, Kaidan. There’s always been… _something_ there. I was just too afraid to explore it. I couldn’t bear the thought of breaking your trust by leading you to believe I was trying to abuse my power in order to sleep with you.”

John could feel Kaidan shaking his head before he was even done speaking. “I never would have thought that. Maybe when you were with Cerberus and my head was on backwards, but not for a moment of the time I’ve known you were… well, you. You’re a good man, Shepard.”

Shepard’s lips twitched upwards, a sweet aching warmth nestled in his chest. “I’m glad you said something.” John felt a soft kiss pressed into his scalp.

“Me, too.”

They lay there, simply enjoying each other’s presence for a while.

“Kaidan?”

“Yeah, Shepard?”

“Will you bunk with me?”

Kaidan chuckled. “I think I already have.”

John propped himself up on one elbow. “I meant from here on out.”

Kaidan raised one eyebrow and was silent for a heart-stopping moment. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

John barely took a beat. “Yeah, I guess I am. I know it’s fast. I don’t expect you to say yes. But the offer is on the table. Like you said—I don’t want to have any regrets. Now I won’t.”

A slow, seductive kind of smile spread over Kaidan’s lips. “Does that mean we can use this bed for more than just sleeping?”

John returned a salacious grin of his own. “What did you have in mind?”

The leer that pierced John was absolutely _wicked_ . “I thought maybe I could show you some of those _benefits_ I mentioned.”

In one swift motion John rolled himself back on top of his partner. “I _have_ been meaning to thoroughly debrief you on that matter.”

Shepard watched white teeth sink into Kaidan’s lower lip and slowly release it. His voice came out rougher than it had a moment before.

“Fire away, sir.”

A shudder rippled down Shepard’s spine, eager for what Kaidan was offering. But first…

He pressed one more gentle kiss to Kaidan’s lips; searched Kaidan’s eyes. One warm and rough palm came to cup John’s cheek again.

“I know,” Kaidan whispered. “Me, too.”

Shepard leaned down, chest swelling, and kissed him once more. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Kaidan’s.

“Thank you for saying something.”

A strong arm wrapped around his back. Secure. Safe.

“You have no idea how happy I’ve been these last two days.”

Shepard smiled, just a little. “I might have some idea.”

“Care to show me?” Brown eyes danced with affection and mischief that Shepard couldn’t resist.

“With pleasure.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to talk to me here or on my [Tumblr](http://resmiranda13.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> This fic can also be found [here](https://mshenkofluff.tumblr.com/post/163770927914/the-sweetest-dream-is-waking-next-to-you).
> 
> Please let me know if you catch any typos!


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